Tristan Bristlin (submitted photo)
Detroit Lakes, MN (KDLM) – Carson Simison and Tristan Bristlin, both of Detroit Lakes, recently attended the Men’s USSA Central Junior Championship qualifier which was held Feb 25th thru 27th at Indianhead Mountain and Blackjack Mountain located in Wakefield, Michigan. The Central USSA Division Championship covers the States of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio.
Both Boys competed in three different events including Slalom, Giant slalom, and SG or Super Giant slalom. At the End of the three-day qualifier Simison turned in an overall 8th place out of 100 ski racers in the U16 division and Bristlin turned a 9th place overall in the U14 division out of 71 competitors.
Simison and Bristlin started racing for the Detroit Mountain Alpine team but have now Simison has moved to Team Afton in the Twin-Cities and Bristlin has moved to 4 degrees racing team in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Both Boys decided to switch to teams that offered the United States ski and snowboard program which offered them the ability to train and race with some of the very best ski racers in the Country.
Simison is coached by Tony Olin of Afton, who was the assistant coach to Lindsey Vonn when she was in her childhood and climbing up the ranks. Bristlin is coached by Pete Jones, formerly of the U.S. Ski Team. Both Boys have trained in the Late Fall and early winter together under Ron Lawrence of Granite Peak, Wisconsin. Ron has been a very successful coach and has coached a total of 4 racers to the U.S. Ski Team.
The Minnesota Boys are at a little bit of a disadvantage when they get to the Rocky Mountain Championships due to the fact that our hills in Minnesota are much too small for a full Giant slalom course which makes practicing the Giant slalom and super Giant slalom very difficult. Both Boys spend their share of time training in the Mountains but nothing like what their competitors get to train.
Simison spent a total of four weeks training in Austria this fall under the Lead of current Olympian Sarah Schlepper. Sarah spent many hours with Carson teaching him how to ski some of the steeper more challenging Mountains/Alps that they have in Austria. Simison also got the chance to travel with Sarah to her first World cup race of the season in Soelden, Austria. Skiing side-by-side with Sarah has been great training for Carson as well as learning how a ski racer lives and trains.
The different age divisions are taking place at two different Mountains in Colorado with Simison competing at Steamboat Springs March 7th thru March 11th and Bristlin competing in Vail, Colorado from March 13th thru March 17th.
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